Surcease

When did First, do no harm become Keep them alive
'til the last tortured breath you can possibly strive
To wring from their drug-sodden, pain-wracked hide,
'til they're begging and pleading to please let them die?

That's the worst you could do, the cruellest of harms.
A farcical care which denies death's balms.
Don't make our last days a struggle, a fight.
Let us quietly slip into painless night.

—Daz

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Dignity

One last breath
And then there's none.
I fear not death;
To all, it comes.
But in that bed
Please let me
Have a shred
Of dignity.
Hear my voice;
Let me be still.
Leave me choice
To go at will.

www.dignityindying.org.uk

—Daz

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A Couple Of Stories From Somerset

Okay, so to mark my return to (hopefully) regular blogging, let us begin, Gentle Reader, with a couple of stories from my own county of Somerset. (For those of a sinister foreign disposition, who I'm led to believe exist somewhere past the shores of Britain, Somerset is in the south west of England. Here's a handy map of the British counties for those who're interested.)

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Terry Pratchett: Shaking Hands With Death

Reading this article on assisted death, at the Why Evolution is True website, I was reminded of Terry Pratchett's 2010 Richard Dimbleby lecture on the subject.

It's a well written and moving piece; and well delivered on his behalf—for reasons explained in the introduction—by Tony Robinson. And I'll shut up, now, and let you watch it.
—Daz

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